Designing Ideas For Smaller Spaces

You recently moved into your new house. When you look around it looks fairly good, despite the fact that it isn’t as large as you would have liked it to be. The spaces appear to be airy and open, however that is without having any accessories and furniture inside the rooms! You suddenly realize that this quaint and charming house is short on real square footage. However, it isn’t necessary for those small spaces to depress you. There are things that you can do to make these small spaces seem larger so that you and your guests won’t ever notice that lack of space surrounding you.

One way of taking your eyes off of the obvious lack of space is taking on a “more is more” perspective. Look for ways to layer the rooms within your house whether its with different patterns, textures or colors. Try to use stacking tables that nest underneath one another. Use an ottoman as your coffee table and place a tray on top or put your ottoman partly under a coffee table. The ottoman will be multi-functional by acting as a table or extra seating. Layering adds functionality as well as interest.

Another excellent furniture technique to think about using is to decorate with vintage furniture. It has a tendency to be on a smaller scale. For example, sofas from the past were frequently just two feet deep rather than the couches of today which have a standard three foot depth. You still get lots of seating for your room and gain an extra foot of space as well. Another visual trick that you can consider using is to remember that any large piece of furniture in a room should be unpatterned or neutral so that it doesn’t overwhelm the small space. Solid pattern and color choices provide a serene backdrop. You can then liven things up by adding interesting and lively accessories.

Another way of broadening an interior space’s appearance is to have uniform flooring. So any carpeting should be wall to wall. If you have wood flooring, avoid area rugs so that your floor expands the whole length of a room.

Another cool way of making a room appear larger is finding ways to visually make a room appear to be taller. If one wall has a few standard sized windows on it, you could mount a drapery pole where the ceiling and wall meet. When draperies are taken from the floor all the way up to the ceiling it makes the windows appear to be larger rather than just their average size. You can also use this trick with a shower curtain in a bathroom also. For heightened style and added drama, mount the pole at the ceiling.

When artwork is hung properly, it can draw one’s eyes up similar to the way draperies do that was mentioned previously. When artwork is higher than usual and tacked on top of each other, it makes a person’s eyes take in a lot more of a room.

If there are a number of nooks and crannies in your small house that appear to be basically useful, you can try to use a dramatic color to paint the space with, mount shelving, hang a painting or put a contrasting vase on display so that it stands out against your unusual wall color. This can help to transform a useful space into an interesting focal point that usually everyone would ignore. The small space is transformed into a significant decorating detail inside of your home.